Walter x f fitzgerald



@einen tutes @anni @affita IMPROVEMENT IN BUTTN-HOLE GUTTERS.

LTI/lgs flganle aferra tuin tigre ntters atcnt :un milking pnt uf i112 smite.

TOiALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, WALTER FITZGERALD, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an improved Button-Hole Cutter; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with vthe drawings which accompany and form part of this speeiiieation, is a description of my invention suieient to enable those skilled in the art to practise it.

This invention relates to certain improvements upon graduating cutters, such for example as were patented to H. D. Walcott, July 27, 1852. v

By my invention I am enabled to make use of a stationary cutter-bed, which'modiication, involving the employment of a cutter made adjustable in the direction of its lengthLinereases the leverage of the instrument upon the cutter, as this is adjusted to cut slits or holes of increased length, this being the reverse of the operation ofthe patented cutter before referred to. v

My invention further embraces peculiarities in the mode of holding and adjusting the cutter-blade with reference to the cutter-bed.

Figure l shows in side elevation a button-hole cutter embodying my invention.

'Figure 2 shows a plan of the same; and

Figure 3, an end view.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of 'the cutter and its holder, tak-en in a plane through one of the adjusting screws shown in dotted lines, 5g. 1. v

There being nothing new about the arrangement of the pivoted levers, which at one end make the handles of the instrument, I pass at once to the devices for cutting connected with the short ends of the levers.

a is a bed firmly fixed to the short end of one of the levers, it being of brass, copper, or other metal softer than the steel of the cutter. The short end ofl the other lever is grooved from its inner surface to receive the cutter-holder so that the holder can be slid either way in the direction of the length of the groove. From this groove a slot is `formed through the end of the lever, the purpose of the slot being the reception of the screw c, by which the cutter-holder is secured' in its place anywhere within the limit of the longitudinal range allowed to the cutter, the screw moving freely in the slot, aud moving therewith the cutter cl and its holder b, except when the screw c is so turned in its nut, formed in the holder b, as to clamp it tightly in any desired position in its groove in its lever end. The holder Z7 is grooved so as to receive in its groove the cutter, which may be either a plain blade or may have a tubular formation at one end, as shown in the drawings, it being held in the'groove by iitting closely therein, or the sides of the groove may grip the cutter like springs. To adjust the edge of the` cutter so as to cause it to bear fairly upon the stationary bed, I make use of two screws, seen in dotted lines, g. I, and one of them in longitudinal section, iig. 4, these being tapped into the holder from the upper edge, and bearing with their lower c nds on the upper edge of the cutter-blade. As the cutter wears or is ground olf, or as the bed ct is dressed of to a smooth surface, the edge of the cutter can be made by adjustment of these screws to touch the bed along the whole of its cutting edge. f,

In the patented construction before referred to, the bed is moved outward from the fulerum of the levers when increased lengths of cuts are required, and thus it is obvious that the leverage of the instrument is dimin ished whenever increased lengths of cuts calling for the greatest expenditure of power are made. In my instrument increased lengths of cuts are obtained by moving the cutter toward the fulcrum of the levers, so that the amount of increase of force needed to be applied to the levers to obtain increased cuts `is so small as to be hardly noticeable in practical operation, while the reverse is the caseV with the old patented instrument before referred to.

I claim the arrangement of the stationary bed and movable cutter, by which increased lengths of cuts are obtained by movements toward instead of away from the fulcrum of the'levers carrying the cutter and bed substantially asdescribed. i

Also the combination, with the cutterand its slotted carrier, of the adjusting screws by which the edge of the knife is aligned, so as to come into contact with the surface of the bed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

WALTER FITZGERALD.

Witncsscsi F. GoULn, J. B. Cuosev. 

